University, school board helping parents cope with COVID burdens
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Isolation. Anxiety. And lots and lots of guilt.
With the COVID-19 pandemic taking a heavy toll on many parents, King’s University College and Thames Valley District school board are teaming up to help.
The university is offering virtual help to parents “managing stress, anxiety and burnout,” said Emily Carrothers, a campus and community social worker.
The mother of four said she knows what it’s like to home school, care for your family and work at the same time.
“The hardest part for us is lots and lots of screen time – we have seen a lot of disruptive behaviour,” Carrothers said. “But what we’re seeing is significantly better than what some families are experiencing.”
For single parents, the task can be overwhelming, she said.
“Systemic inequities have really been heightened by the pandemic,” Carrothers said. “We’re seeing a lot of isolation and loneliness. We know parenting is a pretty lonely endeavour at the best of times but our support system, our friends, our family, is also experiencing isolation and loneliness.
Parents say they feel exhausted and “perhaps guilty for their performance at work, as a parent and their inability to connect with family and friends and help them out,” Carrothers said. “It’s a lot for parents; they are carrying a huge weight.”
At the same time, it has become tougher to access mental health supports, she said. “(Agencies) may be understaffed because of illness or employee absence.”
The school board’s Support and Aid to Families Electronically (SAFE) program, run out of the college, offers support to parents and placements for King’s masters of social work students, who need hands-on experience to graduate.
The program offers free counselling and online workshops, Carrothers said. Parents can get referrals through their children’s schools.
“We also offer these workshops to parents who don’t need counselling . . . just . . . information on how to cope,” she said.
Tips, such as learning how to structure their day with flexible and consistent routines, really can help, Carrothers said. “So parents feel they have an end to their workday and a beginning to their parenting evening, instead of bleeding into one another.”
Other topics include how to rebuild a support system and deal with kids’ COVID fears, she said.
SAFE plans a series of free Zoom workshops for parents, starting Feb. 7 at 7 p.m., and continuing on the second Monday of each month.
“We are offering parents and guardians a place to come and ask some questions about their own mental health and own coping – and have some resources on hand,” Carrothers said.
For details, visit kings.uwo.ca/about-kings/visitor-info/calendar-of-events/parenting-in-a-pandemic-managing-stress-anxiety-and-burnout.
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